If You See Him
by Blink1Blink5
Summary: Bill acts as a go between for Harry and Ginny while Harry is at Shell Cottage. One Shot.


**AN: I did not have a beta for this, so I am sorry in advance for any editing errors. Also, I do not own any of it.**

**If You See Him**

"Bloody rain." Bill muttered as he got pounded on after apperating just outside the boundary to his Aunt Muriel's. He could barley make out the house through the rain. He blew out his breath and tried futilely to wipe the water off his face as he started walking up the hill. The rain had started falling harder in the hour that he had been away. But at least this time he wasn't here in a panic. He knew that his family was safe now.

Just over two hours ago, Ron had appeared at Shell Cottage out of nowhere with Hermione looking like she had been tortured. Shock had been first, and then fear when he noticed that Harry wasn't with them and then deeper fear as Ron told him that he, Hermione and Harry had been captured.

It struck Bill right in the gut to realize that Voldermort knew Ron was with Harry and not sick in his bed. The entire Weasley family had been put at risk because they had been captured.

Bill hadn't had time to celebrate that the three had been able to escape and helped others to escape as well, he had to get his family into a safe house. He had gone to his parents first. Thanking Merlin that Ginny was not at Hogwarts, but home on Easter Holiday, he had told his parents what he knew, not having any details about the capture and escape. But they were smart enough to understand the danger they were in and wasted no time demanding that Bill explain. Arthur, Molly and Ginny packed quickly and then apperated to Aunt Muriel's because it still had the enchantments on it from when they got Harry from Privet Drive.

After they left the burrow, Bill didn't hang around to find out how soon the death eaters would show up, but apperated straight into Diagon Alley. The twins' shop was not a safe enough place for them to stay. Like their parent's and sister, the Twins came with no questions asked. They trusted Bill. This time, Bill escorted them to Aunt Muriel's to ensure that they got there and that his parents had gotten there safe and sound. And then, without explaining still, he returned home to help his wife with their unexpected guests.

But now Dobby had been buried, Hermione had been tended to and everyone else was settled at Shell Cottage. Bill had learned more, so he decided to update his parents, knowing that they were worried about Ron, Hermione and Harry.

He knocked hard three times on the door, and smiled slightly as he heard his family behind the door. The twins were being yelled at by Molly for a prank they had pulled on Aunt Muriel. Then Arthur called through the door, "Who's there?"

"It's me, Dad. Bill."

"What was the name of your first stuffed dragon?"

Bill laughed as he remembered his stuffed Hungarian horntail that he used to sleep with. "Turbo."

The door in front of him swung open and his dad pulled him into the house and into the dining room. Obviously he had interrupted dinner.

"Bill! Come in, eat something with us." Molly rose from her chair to greet him and get him a plate of food.

"Hi Mum." He greeted. Now that he was here, he didn't know what to say to all of them.

"Do you have any news?" Ginny asked him without even greeting him. He just raised his eyebrows at her. "Well, do you?" She asked again.

"I have an update." He said and kept it at that as he sat down and started eating. He loved Molly's cooking. Fleur tired, but just couldn't get the food to taste right.

"What is it?" Ginny demanded.

But before Bill could answer, Molly cut in. "It's not for your ears, Ginny."

"But Mum," Ginny instantly protested.

"No, Ginny. Any update is for Order members only. You are too young to hear it."

"But…" Ginny started again, but was cut off by her mother's look.

"To your room. Now." Ginny glared at her mother and then at Bill. He smiled slightly and he could see the wheels turning in her head.

"Fine." She said and stormed out of the room. Bill and the twins smiled as they listened to Ginny slam the door to the dining room behind her and then as she stomped up the stairs and slammed another door.

Molly just sighed; she didn't know why Ginny was so eager to hear the stuff that adults had to hear. Why did her baby girl want to grow up so fast? But she had other things to think about. "What's the update, Bill?"

Bill swallowed his food and began to tell them what was going on at Shell Cottage and what he knew that had gone on before Ron, Hermione and Harry had gotten captured. He talked for a good twenty minutes without anyone interrupting him. About five minutes into his talk, he noticed a flesh color piece of string slid through the door. He didn't say anything; he figured Ginny was mature enough to know what was going on. When he was done there were many questions, from everyone. He answered them as best as he could, he hadn't been able to get all of the details out of Ron, such as what this mission they were on was about.

And then the debate started, quickly turning into a shouting match. Molly wanted Ron, Hermione and Harry sent to Aunt Muriel's at once and Bill flat out refused. She claimed that Bill couldn't let them run off again and he said he couldn't keep them from going. And then she demanded to go to Shell Cottage herself, but Arthur stepped in, explaining how dangerous it was for the family to travel from place to place. Finally she stormed out of the room without looking back.

Bill had finished eating by this point and Arthur was making the twins do the dishes so he excused himself to talk with Ginny. He had noticed that the string had disappeared when Molly had left the room.

He walked up the stairs and glanced into rooms as he passed, looking for her. He had only been to his Aunt Muriel's a handful of times, so he didn't know which room Ginny would be in, but it didn't take him long to find it.

Ginny was laying stretched out on the bed, reading Sporting Sky, the magazine that she read religiously. Their was a large picture of Hollyhead Harpies captain, Gwenog Jones on the cover with a screaming headline about the Harpies chance at the cup. Ginny's foot tapped along to the song that was blaring out of the wireless that Bill didn't recognize. Merlin, he was getting old. She must have turned that on in hopes that Molly would think that she had been reading and listening the entire time he had been giving his update.

He knocked loudly on the open door to get her attention. He was surprised that she could hear it over the wireless, but she looked up from her magazine and smiled at him. "Hey." He said softly. But at the look on her face, he realized that she couldn't hear him over the music. He pointed his wand at the wireless and it quickly turned off. He greeted her again as he entered her room and shut the door behind him.

He looked around as he sat down on the bed. This forced her to sit up so they were side by side. Even though she hadn't been there very long, a couple of hours at most. The room had a mess of cloths all over it, like she had thrown them out of her trunk while she was looking for something. She had unpacked her wireless and her backpack had spilled out on the floor.

He noticed a picture frame that was in the center of the dresser in front of the ceramic figurines that Aunt Muriel liked to have around her house. He looked at the picture for a moment, watching as Ginny ran up to Harry and threw her arms around him, and Harry picked her off her feet and twirled her around.

He was only mildly surprised by it. He knew that Ginny had a thing for Harry and that Harry would figure it out soon enough. Although he was surprised that Ginny hadn't told him, he was under the impression that Ginny told him everything.

Ginny saw him looking at it. "We aren't together." She said, making it clear that Bill needn't go protect her honor or anything.

But she sounded sad when she said it. And that had Bill worried. "So, you heard the update?" He asked her, knowing the answer.

"No." She lied easily, knowing that he knew the truth, but needed the deniability for their mother.

He chuckled softly at that. "Ron's fine." He told her.

She didn't say anything for a moment. But then decided that "Thanks" was all she could say. When he remained quite, she asked, "Are they going to stay at Shell Cottage long?"

"You know I can't tell you that. But truthfully, I don't know. Hermione is in pretty bad shape, so they should stay until she is better. But they could be gone before I get back."

She looked at the picture on the dresser again. "So Harry is at Shell Cottage."

"I can't confirm that either." Bill felt bad about it, but she knew he couldn't tell her something if it was against the Order, and telling someone Harry's whereabouts would be doing that. The smile that crossed her face told him that she knew where Harry was at that moment.

"When was the last time you saw him?" He asked her.

"Your wedding."

"Where you together then?"

"No." Again, she sounded sad when she said it. Ginny didn't usually sound sad. He was going to have to push that harder.

"When was that picture taken?"

She looked at the picture for a moment and then down at her hands. "About a week before Dumbledore died."

"You look like you were together then." He pointed out the obvious.

"We were." She confirmed. He didn't say anything and she took a moment to contemplate what she should tell him but then decided that it was stupid to keep it in. "He dumped me at Dumbledore's funeral."

"He dumped you?" Bill was stunned. He didn't think Harry was that stupid.

"Well, yeah." Ginny told him like it was as obvious as Hermione knowing the answer.

Bill thought about her reaction for a moment. Why would she think it so obvious that Harry would dump her? "Ginny, you're smart and beautiful, and you can talk Quidditch better than most men. Why would a bloke dump you?"

She gave him a look that was similar to the looks Hermione shot Ron when he said something stupid. "You think he dumped me because I wasn't good enough for him?" She heaved out a breath. "Well that thought hadn't occurred to me yet. Thanks Bill."

This confused Bill. Why would it be so obvious that Harry dump her if it wasn't because of her low self esteem? "Then why?"

She gave him the look again, but took pity on him and answered. "He could hardly have gone on his mission with a girlfriend to worry about."

"Ahh." Now he understood. He watched as picture Harry embraced picture Ginny again. There was something in the way he held her that had Bill suspicious. Something that told him it was more than a school romance. "How long were you together?"

"A couple of weeks." She answered, and again, he noted how sad she sounded.

He contemplated everything that he had found out since walking into her room. "You must have been really close. Did he mention anything about his mission to you?"

"No." She said it very defiantly, which had him raising his brow again.

"Would you tell me if he did?"

"No." She replied without any hesitation. Well, he now knew that Harry was higher on her list than any of her brothers, maybe even their parents. He couldn't blame her for that, if the situation was that Fleur was keeping something, he would keep it from his family to protect her. But had Ginny's and Harry's relationship gone that far already? He didn't know, but that didn't mean he couldn't push her. Any information that she knew would help The Order help Harry.

"But, if you two were together like that," he gestured vaguely at the picture, "before he left, than you must have noticed or heard something."

She glared at him. "No."

"Come on, Ginny. You don't actually expect me to believe that, do you?" He thought he had her now.

"Believe whatever you want."

"Ginny." He picked up her hand as he talked and squeezed it gently. "You are too smart to have not noticed anything."

She pulled her hand out of his. A small act that she hoped would prove her point that she wasn't going to tell him anything. "We weren't together for that long, Bill."

"If you two weren't that close, than why is that," he gestured to the picture again, "the only thing you unpacked?"

"What do you want from me, Bill?" She huffed out a breath and pushed to her feet to pace. "He was very careful not to say anything to me about it." But than she thought about what he had said when they had sat the table together a lifetime ago. How he got annoyed and said he was going to hunt down Voldemort. She shook her head, trying to get the sound of his voice when he had said that out of her mind.

"You do know something." Bill told her.

She glared at him again. Why was he here anyway? She huffed out her breath again. "Look, Bill, Harry didn't trust me enough to tell me. That's something that I have to live with. And I am not going to give Harry a reason not to trust me when he gets back. I won't betray him." She shot him a look that clearly told him she wasn't going to budge on the subject.

"Alright then, I won't push you anymore." Bill patted the bed next to her in invitation and so she sat again. She always became tired when she thought of what Harry had told her. She laid her head on Bill's shoulder and closed her eyes. "So, I can't say that I know where Harry is, but if I should run across him out there," he did a vague gesture to the window. "Would you like me to tell him something for you?"

She smiled a small smile at that. "Well I guess, if you see him, tell him…" She trailed off. What would she want to tell him? Nothing that would make him think he needed to come back for her, or that she wasn't safe. "Tell him I wish him well."

"Is that code for something?" Bill asked after a moment of waiting for her to go on.

"No." She sat up and lightly punched him on the arm. Bill rubbed his arm like she had hurt him. "It's true. Whatever he is doing, I want him to succeed at it. I hope that everything goes well for him."

"Alright, if I see him, I will tell him that." They sat in silence for a while. Ginny replaced her head on his shoulder. She liked it when Bill was around. He made her feel like she could lean on someone. "So, how are you doing?" He finally asked her.

She let out a soft laugh at that. "How am I doing?" She repeated, and then sighed again. She could tell Bill how she was actually feeling. "I don't know, Bill. Sometimes it's hard to tell. And it all comes back to Harry." She ran her hand over her face. "We were only together for a couple of weeks and yet, I still miss him more than ever. It gets worse everyday he is gone. But please don't say a word to him. I mean, if you see him." She added, keeping their game going. She didn't want Bill to tell Harry how much she was missing him. It would make Harry feel bad, and he needed to concentrate on his mission.

Bill squeezed her shoulder. "Why would you not want me to tell him, if I do see him?"

"He needs to concentrate. It would just distract him from his mission. He doesn't need to be thinking about how much I still need him."

"Need!?!" Bill yelled. "Where you two intimate?" He demanded of her.

She lifted her head to stare at him. What was he thinking? "No! Of course not. I was only fifteen when we were together."

"Well, the way you said it, it sounded like you were."

Ginny laid her head back down on Bills shoulder again. "I know that we haven't been together for almost a year, but nothings changed. I try to act like it doesn't affect me, but deep down the fire still burns for him."

"Alright, I have reached my brotherly limits. I don't want to hear about any deep down fires in you." She laughed at that. "I am sorry that you are hurting, though. I can curse him for you. If I see him, that is."

She hit his arm again. "Don't curse him. I am going to marry him someday."

Bill didn't say anything for a moment. "Does he know that?"

"No."

"Hmmm. Alright then, I won't curse him, if I see him."

This made her pause. She was sure that if she told someone that, they would tell her she was too young to know. "You don't think I am too young to know that?"

"No, I think that age is a number. Maturity has to do with experiences. I know that you are mature enough to know weather you are in love or not."

"Thanks." They sat for a while with her head on his shoulder. Ginny was thinking about how good it felt to have told someone that and not be laughed at. At some point she was going to have to tell Harry. She wondered how he would take it. Bill thought about how his sister had grown up so fast. When did he blink? But suddenly she was a grown woman with a man that she wanted to spend her life with.

The door to the bedroom opened with a bang and Fred and George walked in.

"What are you two doing up here?" George asked as he took a seat in the empty chair.

"Maybe they are going over The Order update that Bill just gave." Fred put in.

"But that would be against the rules." George said with fake surprise that anyone would break the rules.

"Yes, but Ginny doesn't mind breaking the rules."

"Nor does Bill."

"We weren't discussing Order business." Bill told them. The looks that they gave him told him that they didn't believe him.

"Whatever." Fred said.

"So, do you two want to play a game of exploding snap?'

"No thanks. I need to get back to Shell Cottage. Fleur will be mad if I am not back soon." He got up from the bed and shook hands with his brothers, saying good bye and then gave Ginny a hug. "I'll tell him for you, if I see him." He told her. And then he turned and walked out of her room to say good buy to his parents.

* * *

Weeks had past since Bill had talked to Ginny and he had been waiting for an opportunity to speak with Harry about it. He thought it would be easy to talk to Harry since Harry was staying at his place, but he was wrong. Ever since he got home from his Aunt Muriels, Harry had been keeping himself busy. He was either locked in a room with Griphook or was flanked by Ron and Hermione. It didn't seem right to talk to him about Ginny while they were there.

Yesterday he had caught Harry on his own in the kitchen, but he had other things to talk to him about. He needed to warn him about working with goblins. He wasn't sure if Harry knew that much about them, or how easily a Goblin will deceive you. But Harry had blown off his warning and left the Kitchen before Bill could say anything about Ginny.

He wondered if Harry felt the same way as Ginny did. Bill had watched Harry quite a bit since he arrived at Shell Cottage. He didn't know Harry as well as his brothers did, but he wanted to see for himself that Harry would be good to his sister. What he saw was that Harry thought about what he was doing a lot, and even if Harry had gotten caught because of his temper, Bill hadn't seen any sign of it. It was actually unnerving him a bit to see how much Harry was like Dumbledore.

Bill finally noticed his opportunity to speak with Harry as Harry had just left the Cottage to go walk along the cliffs; something that he had done before, but never when Bill was free of his duties. Bill told Fleur that he was going out for a walk and grabbed his jacket. He walked slowly after he noticed that Harry had perched himself on one of the rocks.

He sat down on a rock opposite Harry and looked out over the sea, where Harry was looking. The view never ceased to amaze him. After a moment he noticed Harry looking at him. "I can't tell you what I am doing, Bill." Harry cut him off before he could start.

"I know, you told me that yesterday." Bill couldn't blame him for the defensive line. It must be annoying to be constantly asked what he was up to. "But I am not out here for that." Harry looked back out to the water and waited for Bill to continue. He knew that he would say what he needed to at some point and Harry wasn't in any rush to get back to the cottage. "The night you came," Bill started and had Harry turning to look at him.

"What about it?" Harry asked. He was not expecting Bill to talk to him about that night.

"I told you I took my parents, the twins and Ginny to my Aunt Muriel's."

"Yeah." Harry said to get him to continue. He knew it was stupid to panic, he knew that Muriel's was a safe house that the Death Eaters couldn't get to. But knowing that didn't stop the fear that his family might be in danger. That Ginny might be in danger.

Bill was pleased to see the fear come into his eyes. He knew panic when he saw it and was pretty sure that Harry was worried that something had happened to his family. But he couldn't drag it out any longer, that would just be mean. "I got to have a long talk with Ginny that night."

"Oh." Harry sat back in relief. So his family wasn't in danger, well any more danger than they ever were these days. But then he sat back up, realizing that Bill had talked to Ginny about him. He wasn't sure what Bills reaction to the news that him and Ginny had once been a couple would be.

"Yeah." Bill wasn't sure were to start now. It was an odd conversation to be in. Mostly he liked to think of Ginny as the little girl he once knew. He didn't like to think that other boys would be thinking about her in not so innocent ways. "She wanted me to tell you that she wishes you well."

Harry just stared at him when he said that. What the heck had Ginny meant by that? After everything that she had been to him and everything that she continued to be. After all those nights of watching her dot sleep and wishing that he could be there with her. That is what she has to say to him?

Bill saw the stunned look on Harry's face and chuckled lightly. "I felt the same way when she told me that."

"Doubt it." Harry replied under his breath.

"I actually asked her if it was code for something."

"Is it?"

"Wouldn't you know if it was? Otherwise it wouldn't be a very good code. But she did explain it some to me." Harry just raised his brow as a signal for Bill to continue, so he did. "She means it as she hopes that your mission goes well so that you can return to her."

Harry swallowed. Hard. "Did she say that? That she wants me to come back to her?"

"Well no," Bill answered. He felt bad as he watched Harry's face fall. "Not in those exact words. But she made it clear that she expected you to come back."

"So what did she say then?"

"She asked me not to tell you. Didn't want to distract you from what you are doing."

"But you don't mind distracting me?" Harry looked back out to sea. It was good news, hearing that Ginny wanted him to come back to her, but at the same time made Harry regret ever having left her. He told himself over and over that it was for her own good, but sometimes he wondered if his mission would have been easier if he could have talked to Ginny about it.

"I think you are already distracted by it." He noticed that Harry smiled and he knew that he had hit his mark. "Plus, I think I am allowed to interrogate the man that my sister has her sights set on."

Harry looked back at Bill. "So this is an interrogation?"

"Something like that." Bill kept his eyes on Harry. Not many men would be able to sit down with Bill and talk about Bill's sister as a romantic interest. "Do you plan to return to her?"

Harry thought about that. He thought about the clear future that he imagined for Ginny and the dark winding path that stretched out in front of him. He recognized the jealousy that flared up in him when he thought about Ginny marrying a faceless man, but he didn't know if he would be around to change it. "I would like to return to her, but I don't know if I am going to be around to do so." He told Bill truthfully. He figured that if he didn't return, then at least Ginny would know that he had planed to.

"Both you and Ginny seem to understand the danger that you are in, and yet, she is still waiting for you."

"I never asked her to wait for me." He said stubbornly, looking out to the sea again. And that decision he regretted every time he thought about all the other blokes who took a notice of her.

"But she is." Bill told him, knowing that it would help Harry get through whatever he had to face. Harry smiled slightly at that. "I don't know when I will see her again, or if I will before you do, but if I do would you like me to pass a message back to her?"

Harry thought about it as he watched some birds fly out above the water. He had wanted to contact Ginny every day since he left and knew it would be too dangerous to do so. Even sending a message through someone could be dangerous. "I don't know if that would be a good idea." He replied stubbornly.

"I think it would be good for her to hear something from you."

Harry picked up a rock from the ground and started tossing it from one hand to the other. "Well I guess, if you see her before I do, you could tell her I'm doing fine."

"That's it? Fine? She would throw things at me if I told her that was all you had for her."

Harry laughed, something that didn't happen very often these days. He could easily imagine Ginny throwing things at Bill. "If you want to, say that I think of her from time to time." Which was a lie, he admitted to himself. He thought of her all the time, but that wasn't something that he wanted to get into with Bill. Then he sighed. He hadn't been able to talk to anyone about this and even though Bill was her older brother, he was the only one who seemed capable of listening to it without getting mad at him. "I just keep wondering…I mean I don't know why we let each other go. If she would have told me not to at Dumbledore's Funeral, I think I might have stayed with her. I am not sure I would have been strong enough to do it if she hadn't let me go so easily."

Ah, Bill thought, so he is in love with her. "I think she let you go so easily because she understood that she would be a liability to you if she didn't."

"Maybe…I just can't help but wonder if we both went wrong with our relationship, if you can even call it that."

"I don't think you went wrong. I think that you are trying to protect her and that she is trying to support you. And I know that if I were in that situation, Fleur and I would be doing the same things that you and Ginny are."

Harry stared at Bill for a long time. How could Bill understand so easily when Ron and Hermione couldn't? Maybe it was because Bill was in a relationship and he understood that the other person came before your own happiness. Or maybe it was because he had talked to Ginny about it. But whatever it was, he was glad to have someone tell him he had done the right thing. "I don't know if I will be able to come back, but I know that I still want her. And if you see her you could tell the lights still on for her."

"I can do that, if I see her before you do." Both Bill and Harry went back to looking at the sea and enjoyed the quiet of the waves hitting the cliffs below them. Finally, Bill broke the silence, "If this mission takes years, do you think your feelings for her will change?"

Harry didn't respond immediately, he knew the answer of course, but how much did he want Bill to know? But he thought it might be good for Ginny to hear, maybe then she would wait for him. But that was very self serving, he reminded himself. But still, he thought Ginny had a right to know. "Even if it takes forever, as long as I am still alive, I will be planning on returning to her."

Bill smiled. "That is what I wanted to hear. She told me some stuff that I told her I wouldn't tell you, but it's good to know that you two are on the same page. You know she loves you, right?"

"Yes." Harry replied without looking at Bill.

"You know you love her, right?"

"Yes." Again Harry replied without looking at him.

"Alright then," Bill said as he rose from his rock. "I needed to know that she wasn't waiting for a bloke who didn't want her." Harry looked up at him at this, but didn't say anything. "I'll pass her the message, if I see her." And then he turned to walk back into the house.

"Thanks, Bill." Harry said to his back and Bill knew that it was for understanding what Harry was going through as much as it was for passing a message to Ginny.

* * *

Bill woke early in the morning. But apparently, not early enough. When he checked, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Griphook where gone. He wasn't surprised. They had told him they were leaving early and not to get up to see them off, but still, he was hoping they would still be there.

He changed quickly and scribbled a note to Fleur letting her know where he would be.

He headed out into the air that was starting to warm slightly from an obvious chilly dawn. He walked to the apparition point, heading to a place he hadn't been since the night his visitors had shown up. He needed to update them and pass message to Ginny.

Aunt Muriel's hadn't changed much since he had last seen it. Unless you counted the hole the roof above what Bill knew to be the twin's room. But it didn't really surprise him. He didn't think his brothers would stop inventing jokes because of some trivial matter like Voldemort being after them.

He knocked on the door and was let in after telling his mother what she had said to him the first time he boarded the train to Hogwarts.

He looked around the small kitchen and noticed it was a normal morning for them, or as normal as could be with Fred and George around. Ginny was sitting at the table eating toast while their dad read the Daily Prophet. Bill didn't know why his dad kept reading that paper, but he figured it was a way to pass the time. Aunt Muriel had a strict rule about muggle objects in her house, so he couldn't play with his plug collection. His Mum was at the sink, making the dishes clean themselves while she put the already clean ones away. Fred and George were whispering to each other at the table about a mail order form for Weasley's Wizarding Weeze. Aunt Muriel, probably annoyed at the twins, was not in the room.

As he looked around, he felt a stab of pang, they had gotten used to life together in these circumstances and he was going to shatter that in a moment. Their Son and Brother was no longer safe at Shell Cottage. Bill had an idea where they had gone, but wasn't certain.

"Well, Bill." His father asked him. "What is it? Why are you here so early?"

Bill took a deep breath, and said. "Maybe you should sit down, Mum." He realized his mistake immediately as Molly dropped the dishes in her hands. "Everyone is still okay. As far as I know." He rushed to assure her. She nodded once and than sat down next to Arthur. "I thought that I should let you know, Ron, Hermione and Harry left Shell Cottage this morning."

This statement was met with stunned silence. Nobody moved for a full minute. Then Molly snaped her head up and glared at her oldest son. "Where did they go?" She demanded of him.

"I don't know." He told her truthfully. "They just said that they had to continue their mission and that they had to leave this morning."

"You don't know?" His mom repeated. "You don't know? How could you have let them go, William?"

"I didn't have much of a choice, Mum. They are adults; I am not allowed to keep them against their will." He informed his mom.

"They are babies," She told him. "And what would they have done if you had held them against their will? Call the Ministry? I think you could have kept them there."

Bill stared at her for a moment, and then glanced at his father, who was also staring at Molly, apparently shocked. "Look Mum, those three have beaten Voldemort countless times, I seriously doubt that they would have had any trouble escaping me. Plus, they have a mission to do. I do not need to interfere with that."

"Of course you need to interfere with that." Molly shouted at him. "They are not old enough to have a mission."

"They are too." Ginny said, her face going red with anger. "Those three are in the thick of this war, and that is something you need to get used to. They aren't kids anymore. Do you really expect them to sit around waiting for someone else to do something? You don't know them very well if you do."

Her mother glared at her. "Get to your room, Ginny. This isn't meant for your ears."

"Fine." Ginny shouted, pushing up from the table and storming out of the room. She was too mad to even listen with extendable ears. How could her mom not see that Harry, Ron and Hermione were capable of doing this mission, or Dumbledore wouldn't have given it to them. She trusted Dumbledore, She trusted Harry. She fully believed that Harry could do whatever Dumbledore asked of him.

Bill watched her go. She was so much stronger than he remembered her being. He wasn't sure he would have taken the news that the women he loved was no longer safe as well as she had. He excused himself and followed her up to her room.

"Can I come in?" He asked as he poked his head in. She was pacing back and forth with her arms folded across her chest. He knew her well enough to know that she was still pissed off. Whether it was at her mother or at him for letting Harry leave, he didn't know.

She threw her hands into the air, "Sure, why not?" She said, but didn't stop her pacing. He entered and sat on her bed, watching her pace for a while. His eyes flicked to the picture on the dresser, still the only thing of hers that she had sat out in the room.

"I'm sorry." He told her after a while.

She whirled on him, "Why are you sorry?" She asked, baffled.

"For not stopping him."

She laughed once at this. "You couldn't have stopped him even if you wanted to. Harry can be stubborn at times, and I think this would have been one of those times." She started pacing again.

"Are you mad at Mum then?" He asked her. He figured she was mad at someone the way she was pacing back and forth.

She shot him a look and sighed as she plopped down on the bed next to him. "No. I am not mad at anyone."

"You are acting mad."

"No, not mad." She pushed up and started to pace again. "I can't sit still." She paused as he watched her. "It's not mad, it nerves. If he was at Shell Cottage, he was safe. Now he isn't." She continued pacing as she fell silent.

"I told him the message you gave me." She turned to him, raised an eyebrow to get him to continue. "About you wishing him well, which I might point out, he needed me to explain. " She shrugged her shoulders and continued pacing. When she didn't say anything he continued. "He wanted me to tell you that he was doing fine."

Her eyes widened at that, "Fine." She yelled "Fine? He wanted me to know that he was 'Fine?'"

"I told him you would through stuff at me if that is all he wanted to tell you."

Her lips twitched up at that. It had crossed her mind to heave something, but she was trying to keep her temper in check these days. "So did he say something else?"

"He said a lot of things." Bill told her, as he patted the bed beside him in invitation. "Mostly, it boiled down to him wanting to come back to you when he was done, if he is still alive."

Ginny stared at him. Bill didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to comfort someone who had just been told that the person they loved might die. This is why he didn't want to be a healer, like his mother had wanted him to.

Ginny looked down at the floor, closing her eyes for a moment. She took a deep breath to steady herself. She knew it was a possibility that he wouldn't survive. He had always seemed so invincible to her as a girl, but the woman in her knew that it could happen. That she might have to get used to a world where Harry Potter did not exist. But even if she knew this, hearing it come from someone else's mouth was hard. Bill put his arm around her, trying to comfort her.

They were sitting like that for while, and then the door burst open, "Bill," Their mother came in frantic. "Bill. We just had a patronous from Kingsley." She stopped and put her hand over her heart as she tried to catch her breath. "Someone has broken into Gringotts. He thinks it was Ron, Hermione and Harry."

Ginny shot up off the bed. "They broke into Gringotts? Why would they do that?" She turned to her brother, and then realized something. "You aren't surprised by this. You knew they were going to break into Gringotts."

He ran his hand through his hair. "No, I didn't." He told them honestly. "I had a hunch because they where working with a goblin that used to work there. But I didn't know for sure." He looked at his Mom. "Did they make it out?"

"Yes." She said as she leaned against the door. "Yes, they escaped on a dragon apparently."

Bill smiled at that, and he noticed that Ginny smiled too. Bill wondered if that had been the plan all along. "I need to go then. I need to assist Kinglsey with whatever he needs. I am sure the Deatheaters are not going to like that they escaped again." He kissed his mother, and then his sister. "I will come by again soon." He told them as he left. He had no way of knowing that they would all see each other, along with Ron, Hermione and Harry before the night was over.

**FIN! **


End file.
